Rack for supporting flat metal sheets in electroplating operations



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W. JASPER J. PORTING FLAT METAL SHEETS IN ELECTROPLATING OPERATIONS MGR FOR SUP Filed Feb. 11, 1948 Dec. 12, 1950 Patented Dec. 12, 1950 BARK FOR SUPPORTING FLAT METAL SHEETS IN ELECTROPLATING OPERA- TIONS John W. Jasper, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N. Y., a corporation of New Jersey Application February 11, 1948, Serial No. 7,568

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to racks for supporting and handling artic es to be electroplated or the like, and more particularly to an improved rack which is especially adapted to support relatively large flat aluminum sheets which are to be subjected to anodizing operations.

When conducting operations upon large flat relatively thin aluminum sheets difliculty was experienced in maintaining proper electrical contact between the supporting rack and the aluminum sheet being anodized. This resulted in a defective product. In the anodizing process loose contact between the rack and aluminum sheet is promoted by the recuired multiplicity of immersions in plating solutions and cleaning solutions. Also during the anodizing operations the agitation of the plating bath may tend to break the e ectrical contact between the rack and work piece. It is also desirable to employ a rack which facilitates handling the finished plate without the operator having to touch the plate when transferring it to the next processing operation. Various types of racks, heretofore, known in the art were tried but found lacking in several respects. Accordingly, the rack, the subject of the present invention, was invented to fulfill a need.

As indicated above, an object of the present invention is an improved rack for supporting articles during electroplating and similar or associated operations. Another object is a plating rack which is adapted to support relatively large flat metal plates in good electrical contact with a current source. Other objects will appear hereinafter.

The invention will be further understood by reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevational view of my improved plating rack showing a metal sheet held therein in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of the plating rack and metal sheet shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged end view of an upper portion of the rack and metal sheet taken on the lines 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged and elevational view of the lower portion of the rack and metal sheet taken on lines 44 of Fig. 1. As shown in this figure, two metal sheets may be supported in the rack at the same time.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged lower end view of a modification of the plating rack illustrating another way of supporting the metal sheets to be anodized or plated.

2 Referring to Fig. 1 there is shown a rack body l0 comprising a long narrow metal plate terminating at its upper end in a hook H which is positioned at right angles to the main portion of the rack by virtue of a half turn in the neck of the rack at l2. The hook l I is adapted to engage an electrical bus bar or other such source of electricity not shown, and to support the rack in a plating bath. A pair of parallel slots 13 and M- are positioned in the body of the rack at its upper section. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a screw clamp I5 is positioned in slot l3, and a similar screw clamp I6 is positioned in slot M. The details of the clamp are more clearly shown in the enlarged view of Fig. 3 where it is evident that the screw clamp comprises a screw member I 7 having a screw l8 attached thereto which passes through the slot in rack I0 and engages a cooperating nut member I9. Both the screw and nut members have radial arms 2| extending therefrom to assist in tightening the screw clamp against the rack body [0 and so against the metal sheet work piece. Also as is evident in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the metal sheet 22 which is to be electroplated or anodized, etc., is prepared for mounting in the rack l0 by having a pair of holes punched in the margin of the metal sheet on centers so as to register with the slots l3 and M. In mounting this metal sheet 22 the clamps are unscrewed and the screws l8 passed through the slot and the adjacent holes in the metal sheet 22. Nuts l9 are then turned onto the screw l8 thus holding the metal sheet 22 in good electrical contact with the rack body Hi. When two metal sheets are to be plated they are of course mounted on either side of rack l 0 in a similar manner.

Referring now to the lower end of the plating rack l0 shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 it will be seen that the metal sheet 22 is clamped in a difierent manner against the rack H]. The structure of the lower end of the rack Ill and the clamping structure is shown particularly in Figs. 1 and 4. Attached by rivets to the lower end of the rack body and on each side thereof are U-shaped members 24 and 25 and these are spaced from the rack body by a pair of U-shaped spacing members 26 and 21.

As shown particularly in Fig. 4, members 24 and 25 extend vertically above the spacing members 26 and 21 thereby forming between the rack body and the members 24 and 26 respective slots 28 and 29. These slots 28 and 29 are preferably only slightly wider than the thickness of the metal work piece or sheet 22 being plated or anodized. The upper edge of members 24 and 25 are inwardly beveled at 3| and 32 to facilitate sliding the work pieces 22 and 23 into the respective slots. A screw clamp 33 of a structure similar to those described above is mounted in a hole in the rack 10 and is adapted to engage the rack in the space between the arms of the adjacent U members as is evident from Fig. 1. The screw clamp 33 is positioned so that the screw 34, see Fig. 4, is out of contact with the work pieces or sheets 22 and 23 but so that the shoulders 35 and 3B of the screw clamp will en.- gage the lower edges of the work pieces 22 and 23 and thus will press them in good electrical contact against the respective sides of rack l0 when screwed together.

Instead of the structure shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 for supporting the lower end of the work piece 22 and/or 23 I may employ the structure shown in Fig. 5. This structure comprises a pair of rectangular plates 37 and 38, which are spaced from rack It by adjacent plates 4| and 42. These are fastened against rack ID by rivets as shown at 39. Plates 3'! and 38 extend above spacing plates ll and 42 and therefore form a pair of slots 43 and 14 between plates 37 and 38 and the rack Ill. Th work pieces such as 22 and 23 may thus be positioned in these slots and are held at their upper ends as previously described.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 2, the work piece if flexible may be bowed out by sliding the clamps i5 and 1S downwardly in the slots l3 and It. This will further assure a good electrical con-- tact with the rack and if employing the structure shown in 5 will further aid in establishing good. contact with the lower end of the rack. Also by bowing out the work piece both sides of the work piece will be immersed in the plating bath except the small portion thereof in electrical contact with the plating rack.

It will be understood that various changes in the form, proportion, size and incidental details of construction of the rack may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. For anodizing work, I have found that the rack is advantageously constructed from aluminum, but it will be understood that the rack can be made from other conducting metals depending on the type of plating operation being carried out While only a pair of slots l3 and M are shown in the rack, the invention contemplates that other pairs of such slots could be DOSitioned below the pair shown as in Fig. 1 to accommodate the plating of metal sheets of less vertical height. Also slots l3 and 54 could be increased in length and could be extended downwardly of the rack for similar reasons.

I claim:

A rack for supporting in electroplating operations fiat metal work pieces which have a pair of laterally spaced apertures adjacent the upper end thereof, comprising a rectangular rack body having an integral supporting hook on one end thereof, said rack body having a pair of parallel vertically extending and horizontally spaced slots positioned adjacent the upper end thereof, a separate clamping screw member positioned in each of said slots and adapted to be adjusted longitudinally thereof and to pass through the corresponding aperture in the work piece, a pair of upright U-shaped plate members secured to and spaced apart from the opposite end of said rack body on opposite sides thereof by spacers terminating below the upper edges of said plates to provide a horizontal slot on each side of said rack body each of said horizontal slots being adapted to receive the lower end of a work piece, a third clamping screw member extending through the portion of the rack member located between the respective arms of the U-shaped members and adapted to exert clamping pressure on the rack member and the lower end portion of the work piece resting in the horizontal slot, all of said screw clamping members being adapted to hold cooperatively portions of a fiat metal work piece against the plating rack in good electrical contact.

JOHN W. JASPER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 741,274 Pr-itchard ct. 13, 1903 1,227,165 Marin May 22, 1917 1,354,234 Blaetz Sept. 23, 1920 1,505,608 Seely Aug 19, 1924 FOREEGN PATENTS I Number Country Date 350,658 Great Britain June 18, 1931 

